MACON, Ga. — Macon's "Next Level" program aims to educate, enlighten and empower young people and their families. It's sponsored by Macon Violence Prevention.
On Tuesday, Next Level held its annual parent session focusing on mental health-- for themselves, and their children.
Johnny Jacobs says he has grand children of his own. He says he came out to make sure his grandchildren stay on the right path.
"To be involved in different activities in life and to expose them to colleges. So, they have a desire to go off and get a better education," Jacobs said.
Next Level started back in 2000 and Executive Director Lakeisa Toomer says they've helped thousands of kids.
"Anything that will allow them to grow from a youth development perspective we touch on it here," Toomer said.
Jacobs appreciates that MVP is concerned about kids futures.
"It sticks out that they're really concerned about the community. They want the community to be better, they want the kids to be better, and they want us to learn how to get along with one another," Jacobs said.
Some of the skills children learn include: leadership, conflict resolution, and gang violence prevention.
Toomer says the bad choices children face happen because they're not dealing with underlying issues.
Their goal: to help parents acknowledge those issues and empower them to deal with them.
"Mental health is such an issue right now. We're dealing with so much here in our community. We're hurting, we're in pain. We're seeing our young people die everyday," Toomer said.
She says their mission is for children to stay in their program through high school and go on to college.
On June 5, Next Level will hold their four-week summer camp. The camp is for children ages five to 18.